30 April 2018•Update: 30 April 2018
By Mohamed Misto
HOMS, Syria/ANKARA
The Syrian regime and ally Iran have stepped up attacks on besieged parts of Homs, including the Hola district, even though the region falls within a network of de-escalation zones in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.
After wresting control of Eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus, the regime and its allies began to advance on opposition-held parts of Homs province.
Regime forces launched an offensive towards Homs’s rural outskirts on Apr. 14, during which they captured six checkpoints within three days.
The positions, however, were subsequently recovered by armed opposition groups.
A cease-fire deal between the regime and the opposition was brokered by Russia on Apr. 22, but this has been temporarily suspended.
On Sunday, regime forces launched several attacks on Homs -- by ground and by air -- while Iranian-backed forces carried out a simultaneous ground assault.
Dozens of civilians in the region were reportedly injured by more than 70 airstrikes carried out by the regime.
According to Anadolu Agency correspondents based in the area, the attacks -- in which at least one hospital was targeted -- remain ongoing.
Consisting of almost 600 square kilometers, the opposition-held part of northern Homs -- home to some 250,000 people -- has remained under a crippling regime siege for the past five years.
In May of last year, the region was designated a de-escalation zone within the framework of ongoing peace talks -- attended by Turkish, Russian and Iranian representatives -- in the Kazakh capital Astana.
Since the Syria conflict began in 2011, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and millions more rendered homeless, according to UN figures.
*Ali Murat Alhas contributed to this report from Ankara
